Welcome to the Sugar Free September Challenge!
 The next Sugar Free September Challenge happens in - you guessed it - September 2011.
in the meantime, visit the Sugar Free September discussions on my Facebook Page for recipes, tips and to meet other challengers:
http://www.facebook.com/to pic.php?topic=15579&post=1 07026&uid=468009585610#!/board.php?uid=468009585610
HOW TO PLAY:
The AVOID list is the most important part of the challenge - this is the real junk that does us no good at all - so the aim is to eliminate these calorie dense nutritionally lean items from your meals and snacks.!
Avoid -
- White sugar, and things made from it (eg cakes, biscuits, muesli bars, fizzy drinks, sugar in coffee, lollies, sauces, ice cream, sorbet, sweetened yoghurt, breakfast cereals, mueslis, dried fruit). Check the nutrition panel on foods - the fact it has a nutrition label is a clue that it probably belongs on the avoid list :)
- White flour, and the things made from it (eg cakes, pastry, biscuits, bread, pasta, muffins, thickened sauces).
- Liquid sugar - (eg glasses of fruit juice, glasses of milk, milky coffees like lattes and flat whites, fizzy drinks, vitamin water, sports drinks without doing the sport event to require it).
- Alcohol. Yup, sorry - but it'll give your liver a break before the silly season is on us.
- Highly processed foods, pre-packaged foods, anything with lots of numbers or chemicals in the ingredients list (if you just have to unwrap it to eat it then it's probably on the 'avoid' list).
So, then what do you eat?
Enjoy:
Foods that your grandparents and great-grandparents would recognise as food. That means the things you usually find in the outside aisles of the supermarket - meat, fish, green leafy veges, cauliflower, other non starchy veges of rainbow colours like carrots, capsicum, leek, mushroom, eggplant, zucchini, whole fruits (especially berries), eggs, nuts, cheese, olive oil, avocado, seeds - sunflower, pumpkin, linseed and sesame seed, water, green tea, black coffee, small amounts of very dark chocolate - 70% cocoa and above (the darker the better)
Make most of your plate the veges from this list.
Limit:
Starchy foods and 'natural' sugars like fruit, honey, (unsweetened) yoghurt, oats (incl porridge), corn, potatoes, peas, pumpkin, kumara,tomatoes, brown rice, wholegrain bread, wholegrain pasta. You don't have to cut them out completely but don't scarf them back like they're going out of fashion either! Watch your portion sizes - these foods are generally high GI and therefore full of sugars.
Recipes!
If you need help, check out the 'recipes' thread on our Facebook page for some meal plan ideas and some yummy recipes to enjoy.
UP THE ANTE.....
If you feel like a little more incentive to strengthen your resolve, try this:
Get yourself two jars or money boxes - on one of them put a big smiley face or a halo, and on the other put a sad face or a little devil.
Every day you manage to stay 'sugar free' by successfully avoiding the foods on the avoid list, you can pop a gold coin or two in the 'happy' jar. Every day you succumb to temptation, you have to put a $5 note or two into the 'oops' jar. For EVERY oops. Yup, it'll get expensive to sneak that cookie... At the end of September, the money in your 'happy' jar is yours to spend on something lovely - a massage or a manicure or a movie.
BUT the money in your 'oops' jar comes to me. I will gather up the 'oops' money and give it to someone or something that DOESN'T deserve your hard earned moolah...think Brian Tamaki or NZ First or IRD staff morning tea. No show without punch :D
If you are going to play - throw your name into the hat by posting a comment on the discussion boards. And remember to say whether you are 'upping the ante' - being public with your intention will keep you honest.
So there it is in a nutshell....welcome aboard folks.
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I'm 45 and was very very unfit :) 